Howard Webb retires as referee after 25 years to become match officials technical director

Former policeman confirms shock retirement ahead of new Premier League season
after accepting new role

Howard Webb called time on his 25-year refereeing career on Wednesday after deciding to retire following his final World Cup as a match official.

In a surprise announcement, the 43-year-old confirmed he was quitting barely a week before the start of the Premier League season as well as accepting the newly-created role of technical director at Professional Game Match Officials Limited.

Widely regarded as the best English referee of his generation, Webb had been considering his future during the World Cup as Fifa’s age limit for match officials is 45.

Despite no such restrictions in the domestic game, the former police sergeant elected to bow out at the top and begin passing on his vast experience to the next generation.

That experience includes the 2010 Champions League and World Cup finals – the first year both had been refereed by the same man – two European Championships, an FA Cup and League Cup final, and more than 500 Premier League and Football League matches.

Webb’s new job, created following conversations with PGMOL general manager Mike Riley, will involve him overseeing the technical direction and standards that govern the performance of England’s elite officials.

He will manage PGMOL’s training programme and coaching system, and work extensively on the development programme that provides a pathway for referees through to the elite ‘Select Group’. He will also take a public-facing role, informing and educating on refereeing matters, as well as joining Riley’s management team.

“I am very excited to start this new chapter in my career after a wonderfully rewarding 25 years on the pitch,” Webb said. “I have spent over a decade with the best seat in the house for Barclays Premier League matches, been lucky enough to be involved in nine Uefa and Fifa tournaments, and taken charge of the Uefa Champions League and Fifa World Cup finals.

“Refereeing has given me so much and it’s important that match officials who have had the rewards remain in the game to pass on their knowledge. I also have much more to learn about the business of refereeing and the best place for me to do that is with PGMOL.”

Riley said: “We want to accelerate the development of referees from the semi-professional game so that we have an even stronger talent pool to pick from at Select Group level. There is no one better to lead that than Howard Webb.”

Rotherham-born Webb, who recently returned to work part-time as an ambassador for South Yorkshire police, began refereeing in 1989 and progressed through the Northern Counties and Football League to become a Select Group referee in 2003.

His rise was not without controversy, however, most notably when he issued a record 14 yellow cards and one red in the 2010 World Cup final, six months before Liverpool’s Ryan Babel was fined for posting a fake Twitter picture of the official in a Manchester United shirt. The same year, 2011, he was awarded an MBE.

His final match was this summer’s World Cup last-16 tie between Brazil and Chile, after which he came under fire from the host nation for refusing to award them a goal and a penalty.

That did not prevent him being considered to referee a semi-final or the final but Brazil and Argentina’s involvement – the latter following a row over a Falklands banner – scuppered his hopes.

The chairman of Fifa’s referees committee, British vice-president Jim Boyce, led the tributes to Webb, saying he was “very highly though of both at Fifa and Uefa”.

Boyce admitted he was opposed to his own organisation’s age-limit policy, adding: “My own personal feeling is that ability is the number one criteria and if people are good enough and people pass all the fitness tests and get good assessment marks, I think it’s wrong to take them away at 45.

“The counter-argument is that if you do it for one, you have to do it for many people, and it would stop the progression of referees wanting to get onto the Fifa and Uefa lists.”

Greg Dyke, the Football Association chairman, said: “On behalf of The FA, I would like to pay tribute to Howard Webb for a magnificent and unrivalled refereeing career.” He added: “One of the best images of last year was when Howard turned up at a Durham FA event in memory of Sir Bobby Robson.

“He had a rare Saturday off but still spent a couple of hours meeting hundreds of youngsters. He even agreed to referee an under-sevens match. What an experience for those kids to remember for the rest of their lives – to be inspired by someone who has reached the very pinnacle of their field.”